S Jaishankar meets Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov on Tuesday, reported ANI. Manturov is also Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade. He arrived in New Delhi on Monday.

This is EAM Jaishankar’s second meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister during his visit to India.

At the India-Russia Business Dialogue in New Delhi on Monday, Jaishankar and Manturov met with representatives of Russian and Indian firms.

Addressing the Russia-India Business Dialogue, Manturov said, according to ANI. “Together with Eurasian Economic Commission, we are looking forward to intensifying negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with India.”

Manturov also said Moscow is interested in a qualitative increase in trade.

“Additionally, we are working on signing of Russia-India Bilateral Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments,” Manturaov said at the event, which was organised jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Russia-India Business Council.

“To protect the principles of free trade with its partners, Russia has undertaken a set of effective measures, including import preferences. Mechanisms that guarantee the protection of investments will be in demand among Russian and Indian businessmen,” Maturaov said, reported ANI.

INSTC was signed in 2000 and ratified in 2002 by India, Iran, and Russia, with testing runs taking place in 2016.

“Also, we believe that it is important to expand direct air connectivity – this is a necessary condition for regular exchange of business delegations, an increase of mutual tourist flow,” he said.

Laying out the challenges faced by Russia, Manturov said COVID-19 led to logistics disruptions. He pointed out that “one-sided illegitimate sanctions by Western states against Russia provoked systemic problems on the global markets”.

“It led to the acceleration of inflation in many countries. Also, it created difficulties for international transport flows, cargo insurance, and the conduction of financial transactions,” he said, reported ANI.

He also stated that despite the dramatic scenarios, Russia’s GDP last year decreased by merely 2 per cent.

Inflation did not exceed 12 per cent, and now this indicator stands at 3.2 per cent (year on year). Unemployment also is at the historic minimum of 3.7 per cent.

The Russian minister said “the margin of safety in his country’s economy, and prompt measures” taken by his government provided for “quick adjustment to new realities”.

The visiting minister stated Russia is not planning to “fence” themselves off from the rest of the world, stating that such a measure is unrealistic and not feasible economically to substitute everything in all sectors of industry.

“We do not have such a goal to achieve complete self-sufficiency — it is a dead-end, leading eventually to the loss of competitiveness,” he said.

EAM Jaishankar also addressed the India-Russia Business Dialogue in Delhi, saying, according to ANI, “We have crossed the bilateral trade target of USD 30 billion before the year 2025 which was the target year given to us by our leaderships. And in fact for the period April 2022 – February 2023, I understand that the trade is actually about USD 45 billion and the expectation is that this will continue to grow.”

Jaishankar went on to say that India and Russia must encourage business on both sides. He stated that they are aiming to turn India into a “global manufacturing hub.”

Jaishankar and Manturov also co-chaired the IRIGC-TEC virtual conference last month.

Wint inputs from ANI

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